Method and system for temporarily provisioning a telephone service feature for a subscriber

ABSTRACT

The invention provides a method and system for temporarily provisioning a telephone service feature. At the request of a calling or called party, a telephone service feature to be temporarily provisioned can be identified. Once identified, the telephone service feature can be provisioned and activated to handle the telephone service feature. Upon completion of the call, the requested telephone service is deactivated. In order to activate the requested telephone service feature, system resources can be allocated to support the identified telephone service feature. The allocation of system resources can include reserving a pool of resources for activating the identified telephone service feature. For example, a pool of line interface circuits may be reserved specifically for providing temporary provisioning of the telephone service feature for subscribers. An available resource capable of processing the identified telephone service feature can be selected from the pool of resources. The selection of an available resource can include multiplexing the available resource onto a conduit that bears existing service for the subscriber for which the telephone service feature is being provisioned.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of, and accordingly claims thebenefit from, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/039,153, now issuedU.S. Pat. No. ______, which was filed in the U.S. Patent and TrademarkOffice on Jan. 3, 2002.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of telephony and moreparticularly, to a method for provisioning a telephone service feature.

2. Description of the Related Art

A public switched telephone network (PSTN) is a network that can providelocal access and switching services for telephone subscribers. Localaccess includes the provision of a local connection point where asubscriber can connect to or access the PSTN. Switching services caninclude the capability to switch or route local or long distance callsthat are originated or terminated by a subscriber in the PSTN. Forexample, there is shown in FIG. 1, a typical PSTN 100 system. The PSTN100 system can include a switch 102, central office (CO) 104 withtelephone subscriber terminals 104 a, 104 b, 104 c and CO 106 withtelephone subscriber terminals 106 a, 106 b and 106 c. The switch 102can be used to switch calls between CO 104 and CO 106.

Typically, the switch 102 can have the capability to switch callsoriginating and terminating within the same CO. For example, a calloriginating at subscriber terminal 104 b and destined for subscriberterminal 104 c can be switched by switch 102. Similarly, a calloriginated by subscriber terminal 104 b and destined for subscriberterminal 106 a can be switched by switch 102. In sophisticated CO's, theequipment present can have the capability to do intra-CO switching,which can include the switching of calls between originating andterminating subscriber terminals that are served by the same CO, withoutthe assistance of the switch 102. For example, a call originated atsubscriber 104 a and destined for a subscriber terminal 104 b can beswitched by the CO 104, without the switch 102.

The CO can function as the local access point for subscribers. FIG. 2illustrates a high level diagram of the CO 104 with line interfacecircuits (LICs). In its simplest form, CO 104 can contain a plurality ofLICs, for example 122, 124. LICs are generally designed as a card havingelectronic components located thereon. Each LIC can provide telephoneservice to a single subscriber served by the CO. The LICs can be housedwithin an electronics cabinet 120 located at the CO. The LICs can bearranged in banks, 126, 128 to accommodate growth of the system. EachLIC can be designed as a “plug-in” card or circuit-pack that can beeasily plugged or inserted into a common bus residing within theelectronics frame or cabinet 120. Also housed in the electronics frame120 is a controller 140. The controller 140 can be a special LIC that isspecially configured to control the operation of all the LICs inelectronics frame.

The use of “plug-in” cards or circuit-packs that are plugged into anelectronics frame or cabinet having a common bus is known in the art.Whenever the need arises to provision services for a new subscriber, anew LIC card can be plugged into the common bus of the electronicscabinet 120. A twisted pair wire can then be connected to the LIC cardand run from the CO to the customer/subscriber premises. At the customerpremises, the twisted pair can be connected to a subscriber terminal,which is generically called a customer premises equipment (CPE). Forexample, LIC 122 can be connected to subscriber terminal 104 a by thetwisted pair wire 122 a.

In operation, a subscriber utilizing subscriber terminal 104 a wishingto place a call to subscriber terminal 106 a can dial the directorynumber (DN) associated with the subscriber terminal 106 a. Based on thedialed digits of the DN associated with the subscriber terminal 106 awhich are received at the CO 104, a call request can be dispatched tothe switch 102. Based on the DN associated with the subscriber terminal106 a, the switch 100 can route the call to CO 106. The CO 106 canaccordingly route the incoming call to the subscriber terminal 106 a. Atthis point, subscriber terminal 104 a is connected to subscriberterminal 106 a.

Telephone service features such as, caller ID, three-way calling, callwaiting, call hold, and call forwarding require provisioning. Whenever atelephone subscriber orders a new telephone service feature, the servicefeature has to be provisioned prior to the subscriber accessing theservice. Provisioning a telephone service feature can include setting upthe available resources in the telephone network and possibly at thesubscriber premise to accommodate the new telephone service feature.

Typical provisioning activities can include, but are not limited to,programming the telephone service feature at a switch, and addingappropriate circuits within a telephone network such as at the CO. Forexample, the LIC 130 circuit-pack or card has to be provisioned at CO104 and conduits such as twisted pair wires, coaxial cable or even awireless connection can provide a communication path between the LIC 130and the subscriber terminal 104 c. Additionally, appropriate billingdatabases have to be accordingly updated. Notably, the provisioningactivities typically entail dispatching a service technician to upgradevarious network elements, such as the LIC card 130 at the CO 104.

The cost related to provisioning a new service feature can beprohibitively high. Instead of absorbing these prohibitively high costs,telephone service providers typically charge a connection fee to offsetthe costs related to provisioning a new service feature. Importantly,the charge for these service features are additional to the monthlycharges paid for basic telephone service by the subscriber, irrespectiveof whether or not the service feature is utilized by the subscriber.Consequently, many subscribers refuse to subscribe to these new servicefeatures since it is undesirable to pay for service features that mightrarely be utilized.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides a method and system for temporarily provisioninga telephone service feature. The method for temporarily provisioning atelephone service feature can include the step of identifying atelephone service feature that is to be temporarily provisioned for theduration of a call. Once identified, the telephone service feature canbe activated. Upon completion of the call the activated telephoneservice feature can be deactivated. The step of identifying thetelephone service feature can include receiving a call request thatidentifies the telephone service feature to be temporarily provisionedand determining whether the identified telephone service feature can beprovisioned as requested.

The step of activating the telephone service feature can include thestep of allocating system resources to support the identified telephoneservice feature. Allocation of the system resources can include, but isnot limited to, allocating line interface circuits capable of providingthe requested telephone service feature to a subscriber. The allocationof the system resources can further include the step of reserving a poolof resources for activating the identified telephone service feature andselecting from the reserved pool of resources, an available resourcecapable of processing the identified telephone service feature. Theselecting step can further include the step of multiplexing theavailable resource onto existing telephony service in order to supportthe call request for the identified telephone service feature.

The step of receiving the call request can further include the step ofproviding a list of telephone service features to a party, in which thelist can include the telephone service feature to be activated. Thetelephone service feature to be provisioned can be selected from thelist of telephone service features provided. Exemplary telephone servicefeature can include, but are not limited to, a caller ID feature, athree-way calling feature, a call waiting feature, a call hold featureand/or a call forwarding feature.

The invention also provides a system for temporarily provisioning atelephone service. The system can include a controller, which canreceive a call request that identifies a telephone service feature thatis to be temporarily provisioned for a called subscriber terminal. Thetemporary provisioning of the telephone service feature can occur forthe duration of a call. The controller can identify the telephoneservice feature that is to be temporarily provisioned.

An activator can activate the identified telephone service feature tosatisfy the received call request and also deactivate the requiredtelephone service feature upon completion of the call. The activator caninclude a reserved pool of communication processing circuits which canbe controlled by the controller. The controller can include suitablecircuitry and logic for activating and deactivating the identifiedtelephone service feature. Each of the communication processing circuitscan further include a LIC which can be controlled by the controller. Thesystem can further include a common multiplexed bus which can connecteach of the line interface circuits to a transmission conduit.

The controller can further include a multiplexer for multiplexingcommunication signals from the LICs onto the common multiplexed bus. Thetransmission conduit can connect the multiplexed bus to the calledsubscriber terminal and transfer the communication signals communicatedbetween the multiplexed bus and the called subscriber terminal.

In another aspect of the invention, a system for temporarilyprovisioning a telephone service feature is provided. The system caninclude a communications controller which can receive a call requestidentifying a required telephone service feature to be temporarilyprovisioned for a called subscriber terminal. The required telephoneservice feature can be temporarily provisioned for the duration of acall. A pool of reserved communication processing circuits can beutilized for activating and deactivating the identified telephoneservice feature. A multiplexer can multiplex an available communicationprocessing circuit selected from the pool of reserved communicationprocessing circuits onto a transmission conduit. The transmissionconduit can provide service to the called subscriber terminal.

The communications controller can further include suitable circuitry andlogic that can have the capability of determining an availablecommunication processing circuit from the pool of reserved communicationprocessing circuits. Subsequent to determining which communicationprocessing circuit is available, the controller can allocate theavailable communication processing circuit for processing the telephoneservice feature. The system can further include a multiplexed bus whichcan communicate telephony signals between each of the communicationprocessing circuits and the called subscriber terminal through atransmission conduit. The transmission conduit can communicate thetelephony signals between the multiplexed bus and the called subscriberterminal. The communication processing circuit can be a line interfacecircuit for providing local access service to the called subscriberterminal. The communication processor can further include suitablecircuitry and logic capable of returning an allocated communicationprocessing circuit back to the pool of reserved communication processingcircuits whenever the call ends.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

There are shown in the drawings embodiments of which are presentlypreferred, it being understood, however, that the invention is not solimited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown,wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional PSTN system;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary CO with LIC cards connected to thesubscriber terminals in accordance with the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary CO having a pool of reserved resourcesin accordance with the inventive arrangements; and

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary arrangement for multiplexing a LIC ontoa subscriber terminal in accordance with the inventive arrangements

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a method and system for temporarilyprovisioning a telephone service feature. Telephone service features caninclude, caller ID, three-way calling, call waiting, call-hold, callforwarding and other similar features now known or hereafter provided.The invention permits a telephone subscriber to temporarily utilize forthe duration of a telephone call, a particular telephone service featurefor which the telephone subscriber has not previously subscribed. Toprovide such temporary provisioning, a resource selected from a pool ofreserved resources can be allocated and used to temporarily provisionthe telephone service feature for a subscriber. Specifically, reservedresources, such as a LIC, can include electronic circuits and anyassociated firmware or software that can provide the requested telephoneservice feature that is to be temporarily provisioned.

Upon termination of a telephone call, any temporarily provisionedresource can be relinquished and deallocated. Furthermore, any resourcetaken from the reserved pool of resources can be returned to thereserved pool of resources, where it can be subsequently allocated tofacilitate future requests for temporary provisioning of a telephoneservice feature. Notably, by temporarily provisioning selected resourcesfrom the reserved pool of resources, there is no need to have dedicatedresources for every telephone subscriber. This can result in asignificant reduction in costs for telephone service providers.

In any event, it should be recognized by one skilled in the art thatalthough the telephone service feature can be provisioned for asubscriber that has not previously subscribed to the service feature,the invention is not limited in this respect. For example, the inventioncould temporarily provide telephone service features to subscribers whoare delinquent with payments and have only basic telephony serviceavailable and do not have enhanced service features.

As another example, a subscriber that has not subscribed to an enhancedservice feature such as caller ID, can be temporarily provisioned toutilize the service feature for the duration of a single call.Similarly, a subscriber that does not currently have access to three-waycalling service feature can be temporarily provisioned to utilize theservice for the duration of a single incoming call. Once the call hasbeen terminated, the temporarily provisioned service can be deactivated.

In the present invention, a call request can be received which canidentify a telephone service feature to be provisioned for a particularsubscriber. The call request can be a request to establish a connectionwith a called party and the call request can also identify the telephoneservice feature to be provisioned. Alternatively, the call request canbe a request to specifically provision the requested telephone servicefeature. In any case, a determination can be made as to whether theidentified telephone service feature can be provisioned based on theidentity or configuration of the subscriber terminal.

If it is determined that the telephone service feature can beprovisioned, the requested telephone service feature can then betemporarily activated for the duration of the call. In order to activatethe requested telephone service feature, system resources can beallocated to support the identified telephone service feature. Systemresources can include, but are not limited to, LICs or other electroniccircuits mow known or hereafter provided for offering the requestedservice feature to a subscriber. Upon completion of the call, thetelephone service feature can be deactivated. That is, the resourcesallocated for the temporarily provisioned telephone service feature canbe deallocated.

The allocation of system resources to support or facilitate theidentified telephone service feature can include reserving a pool ofresources for activating the identified telephone service feature. Forexample, a pool of LICs can be reserved specifically for providingtemporary provisioning of a telephone service for subscribers. Anavailable resource capable of processing the identified telephonefeature can be selected from the pool of resources.

The selection of an available resource can include multiplexing theavailable resource onto a conduit that bears existing telephony servicefor the subscriber for which the telephone service is being provisioned.As a result, the temporarily activated telephone service can be providedwith telephony services which the subscriber can currently access. Itshould be recognized that the temporary provisioning of the telephoneservice feature can be applicable to the called party as well as thecalling party. Hence, a called or a calling party can request thetelephone service feature.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a CO 104 having a reserved poolof processing resources. Located within the CO 104 is an electronicsframe or cabinet 120, which can contain banks of LICs 126, 128, whichare controlled by controller 140. The use of an electronics frame orcabinet to house electronic circuits, such as LICs, is known in the art.The reserved pool of processing resources can include a bank of LICcards 132, which can be used specifically for providing temporaryprovisioning of a telephone service feature.

In operation, the requested telephone service feature can be three-waycalling which requires the provisioning of an additional LIC to handlethe call request. In operation, upon receipt of a request to temporarilyprovision the three-way call waiting service feature, controller 140 canselect an available LIC card from the bank of reserved LICs 132. Theselected LIC can then be multiplexed onto a conduit that providesexisting telephone services. For example, LIC 130 has previously beenprovisioned to provide local access service to subscriber terminal 104c. However, subscriber terminal 104 c has not been previouslyprovisioned to receive three-way calling.

Upon receipt of the request to temporarily provision three-way callingservice for subscriber terminal 104 c, LIC card 134 can be selected fromthe reserved bank of available resources 132. Once selected, the LICcard 134 can be marked as being unavailable or in-use. Upon terminationof the call, the LIC 134 can be returned to the reserved pool ofavailable communication links and marked as being available for use.After being selected, the LIC card 134 can then be multiplexed ontoconduit 130 c that was previously provisioned to provide local accessservice to the subscriber terminal 104 c. Referring to FIG. 3, themultiplexing is illustrated by conduit 134 c being connected to thealready existing conduit 130 c. Notwithstanding, it should be readilyunderstood that the actual multiplexing of the communication signals canoccur via the common bus within the electronics frame or cabinet 120. Bymultiplexing the available resource, LIC card 134 onto conduit 130 c,which bears existing telephony services, the temporarily activatedtelephone service feature can coexists with the existing telephonyservices.

In accordance with the inventive arrangements, a calling party utilizingcalling subscriber terminal 104 a can dial a DN for called subscriberterminal 104 c which is being utilized by a called party. Calledsubscriber terminal 104 c is already connected to subscriber terminal104 b. The called party utilizing called subscriber terminal 104 c doesnot have the call waiting telephone service feature. Upon receiving, forexample a busy tone or call waiting, the calling party can enter thefeature code, for example *91 or a DTMF sequence to temporarily activatethree-way calling telephone service feature for the called party. Theuse of feature codes or DTMF sequences are well known by those skilledin the art.

Alternatively, a list of telephone service features could be provided tothe subscriber and a selection made from the list. Upon activation ofthe service, an available LIC 134 from the reserved pool of LICs can beselected. The selected LIC can multiplex the calling subscriber terminalon to the existing conduit 130 c providing service to called subscriberterminal 104 c, but utilizing conduit 134 c. Upon termination of thecall, for example, when the calling party utilizing subscriber terminal104 a hangs up, the three-way calling service is deactivated and the LIC134 is returned to the pool of reserved pool of resources.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary arrangement for multiplexing a LIC ontoa subscriber terminal in accordance with the inventive arrangements.Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a controller 140 having amultiplexer 148, a processor 146, and suitable logic and controlcircuitry 142, 144 respectively. LICs 130, 134 can be connected tocommon bus 150. The LIC 130 can be previously provisioned to providelocal access service to subscriber terminal 104 c. To illustrate theoperation of the system depicted in FIG. 4, three-way calling telephoneservice feature will be used since it requires provisioning of anadditional LIC. A calling party utilizing subscriber terminal 104 a candial a DN for called subscriber terminal 104 c which is being utilizedby a called party. Called subscriber terminal 104 c is already connectedto subscriber terminal 104 b. The subscriber terminal 104 c has not beenpreviously provisioned for three-way calling. Since the calledsubscriber terminal 104 c is off-hook, a busy signal will be heard atthe calling subscriber terminal 104 a.

A call request can be generated to initiate temporary provisioning ofthree-way calling. The controller 140 can receive the call request andcan provide a list of telephone service features to be activated. Thetelephone service feature to be provisioned can be identified whenever aselection is made from the list. The list can be presented as part of agraphical user interface where a subscriber terminal has suchcapability. Alternatively, a voice prompt can be utilized for making theappropriate selection. Notably, feature codes or touch-tone (DTMF)sequences can define a particular telephone service feature. Once aselection has been made from the list of telephone service features, theservice feature can subsequently be provisioned. The controller 140 cangenerate a predefined code, for example DTMF tones, which can representthe telephone service feature to be provisioned.

Once the telephone service feature to be temporarily provisioned hasbeen identified, the activator under control of the controller 140, canactivate the identified telephone service feature. Activation can occurby selecting an available communication link that has the capability tosupport the telephone service feature from the reserved pool ofavailable communication links. In selecting an available communicationlink, the activator can assign, for example, an available LIC tofacilitate the temporary provisioning of the identified telephoneservice feature. Notably, LIC card 134 can be an available resourcewhich can be selected to facilitate the requested telephone service tosubscriber terminal 104 c.

Subsequent to selecting and assigning the available LIC 134 from thereserved pool of available LICs, CPU 146 can send a control signalinstructing the multiplexer 148 to multiplex the signals from LICs 130and 134 onto the transmission conduit 130 c which connects subscriberterminal 104 c. Once multiplexed, the requested telephony servicefeature is now temporarily provisioned for the called subscriberterminal. Upon termination of the call, the LIC 134 can be deallocatedand returned to the reserved pool of LICs and LIC 130 can continue toprovide local access service to subscriber terminal 104 c. It should bereadily understood that although the multiplexer 146 can be an internalperipheral of controller 140, the invention is not so limited. Amultiplexer external to the controller 140 can be utilized withoutdeparting from the inventive concepts.

The present invention can be realized in hardware, software, or acombination of hardware and software. A method and system fortemporarily provisioning a telephone service feature to a subscriberaccording to the present invention can be realized in a centralizedfashion in one computer system, or in a distributed fashion wheredifferent elements are spread across several interconnected computersystems. Any kind of computer system, or other apparatus adapted forcarrying out the methods described herein, is suited. A typicalcombination of hardware and software could be a general purpose computersystem with a computer program that, when being loaded and executed,controls the computer system such that it carries out the methodsdescribed herein.

The present invention can also be embedded in a computer programproduct, which comprises all the features enabling the implementation ofthe methods described herein, and which, when loaded in a computersystem, is able to carry out these methods. Computer program orapplication in the present context means any expression, in anylanguage, code or notation, of a set of instructions intended to cause asystem having an information processing capability to perform aparticular function either directly or after either or both of thefollowing a) conversion to another language, code or notation; b)reproduction in a different material form.

1. A system for temporarily provisioning a telephone service feature,the system comprising: a controller, wherein said controller isconfigured to receive a call request to establish a telephone connectionbetween a calling party and a called party, if the call requestidentifies a telephone service, determine whether one of a plurality oftelephone service features identified in the call request can betemporarily provisioned to at least one of the calling party and calledparty, and if the call request does not identify a telephone servicefeature or a determination is made that an identified telephone servicefeature can not be temporarily provisioned, present to at least one ofthe calling party and the called party a list of other telephone servicefeatures that can be temporarily provisioned to either the calling partyor the called party, wherein the list is presented in at least onegraphical user interface on at least one display of at least one deviceused by at least one of the calling party and the called party; and anactivator, said activator configured to activate an identified telephoneservice feature that can be temporarily provisioned so as to satisfysaid received call request and to deactivate said required telephoneservice feature upon completion of said call.
 2. The system according toclaim 1, wherein said telephony resources comprise a reserved pool ofcommunication processing circuits controlled by said controller.
 3. Thesystem according to claim 2, wherein each of said communicationprocessing circuits further comprises a line interface circuit forproviding said telephone service feature.
 4. The system according toclaim 3, further comprising a common multiplexed bus for connecting eachof said line interface circuits to a transmission conduit.
 5. The systemaccording to claim 4, wherein said controller further comprises amultiplexer for multiplexing communication signals from said lineinterface circuits onto said common multiplexed bus.
 6. A system fortemporarily provisioning a telephone service feature, the systemcomprising: a communications controller for receiving a call request toestablish a telephone connection between a calling party and a calledparty, if the call request identifies a telephone service, determiningwhether one of a plurality of telephone service features identified inthe call request can be temporarily provisioned to at least one of thecalling party and called party, and if the call request does notidentify a telephone service feature or a determination is made that anidentified telephone service feature can not be temporarily provisioned,presenting to at least one of the calling party and the called party alist of other telephone service features that can be temporarilyprovisioned to either the calling party or the called party, wherein thelist is presented in at least one graphical user interface on at leastone display of at least one device used by at least one of the callingparty and the called party; a pool of reserved communication processingcircuits for activating and deactivating said identified telephoneservice feature; and a multiplexer for multiplexing an availablecommunication processing circuit from said pool of reservedcommunication processing circuits onto a transmission conduit providingservice to said called subscriber terminal for the duration of the call,said available communication processing circuit being reallocated tosaid pool of reserved communication processing circuits upon terminationof the call.
 7. The system according to claim 6, wherein saidcommunications controller further comprises circuits and program logicfor determining an available communication processing circuit from saidpool of reserved communication processing circuits, and allocating saidavailable communication processing circuit for processing said telephoneservice feature.
 8. The system according to claim 7, further comprisinga multiplexed bus for communicating telephony signals between each ofsaid communication processing circuits and said called subscriberterminal through a transmission conduit.
 9. The system according toclaim 7, wherein said communication processing circuit is a lineinterface circuit providing local access service to said calledsubscriber terminal.
 10. A computer-readable storage having storedthereon, a computer program having a plurality of code sections, saidcode sections executable by a computer for causing the computer toperform the steps of: receiving a call request to establish a telephoneconnection between a calling party and a called party; if the callrequest identifies a telephone service, determining whether one of aplurality of telephone service features identified in the call requestcan be temporarily provisioned to at least one of the calling party andcalled party; if the call request does not identify a telephone servicefeature or a determination is made that an identified telephone servicefeature can not be temporarily provisioned, presenting to at least oneof the calling party and the called party a list of other telephoneservice features that can be temporarily provisioned to either thecalling party or the called party, wherein the list is presented in atleast one graphical user interface on at least one display of at leastone device used by at least one of the calling party and the calledparty; if a telephone feature is identified and can be temporarilyprovisioned, temporarily allocating telephony system resources tosupport said identified telephone service feature; temporarilyactivating said identified telephone service feature for the call;deactivating said activated telephone service feature upon completion ofsaid call; and reallocating said telephony system resources in responseto completion of said call.
 11. The computer-readable storage accordingto claim 10, further comprising: receiving a call request identifying atelephone service feature to be temporarily provisioned for the durationof an already-connected call; and determining whether said identifiedtelephone service feature can be provisioned within a telephony networkfor a call serviced by a particular exchange carrier.
 12. Thecomputer-readable storage according to claim 10, further comprisingallocating line interface circuits capable of providing said requestedtelephone service feature to a subscriber.
 13. The computer-readablestorage according to claim 12, wherein said allocating step furthercomprises: reserving a pool of resources for activating said identifiedtelephone service feature; and selecting from said reserved pool ofresources, an available resource capable of processing said identifiedtelephone service feature.
 14. The computer-readable storage accordingto claim 13, wherein said selecting step further comprises the step ofmultiplexing said available resource onto existing telephony service inorder to support said call request for said identified telephone servicefeature.
 15. The computer-readable storage according to claim 10,wherein said telephone service feature is a feature selected from thegroup consisting of a caller ID feature, a three-way calling feature, acall waiting feature, a call hold feature and a call forwarding feature.